Car-fender.



Patented Apr. 30, I90l,

No. 673,36I.

s. H. EVANS. C A R F E N D E R (Apialication filed July 5, 1900.:

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATE-s PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL HOWELL EVANS, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ALFRED HALLRYAN, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 673,361, dated April30, 1901.

Application filed July 5, 1900. Serial No. 22,583. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LSAMUEL HOWELL EVANS, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Trenton,in the county of Mercer and State of NewJersey, have invented a certain new and useful Oar-Fender, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to car-fenders; and the primary object of theinvention is to do away with the oscillation or vibration of astreet-car fender, and thus overcome a defect which is fatal to theefficiency of the car-fender and which frequently results in a personbeing caught under the projecting end of the fender and held until he iscaught by the wheel guard, or, in its absence, struck and mutilated bythe car-wheels or projections from the car truck or body. By means ofthe invention hereinafter particularly set forth the fender is held withits forward portion a few inches above the surface of the road-bed, andon account of the fender being supported solely by the car-truck, whichis not in any way in fiuenced by the car-springs upon which the car ismounted, the fender is carried along without any oscillatory motionbeing imparted thereto by reason of the movements of the car-body, thefender being entirely independent of the car-body. At the same time thescoop or body-catching portion of the fender is arranged beyond the endof the car or in front of the platform and dashboard in a position topick up'the object or body before it has a chance to get beneath theplatform, and the scoop is so mounted that when it comes in contact witha body or object the forward portion or end thereof is caused to drop tothe ground or surface of the road-bed and pick up the object or bodywithout injury. Means are also provided for cushioning the fall of aperson When received in and picked up by the fender, and the fender isotherwise so constructed that the scoop or body-catching portion thereofmay be compactly folded against the dashboard or end of the car when notin use. The several members of the fender and its frame are held intheir normal operative positions by counterbalancing devices, the natureof which will hereinafter more fully appear. Other objects andadvantages of the invention will construction and arrangement of parts,as

hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, andincorporated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,Fignre 1 isa side elevation of one end of acar, showing the car-fender mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe car-fender. Fig. 3 is a detail elevation showing the connectionbetween the two portions of the fender-frame. Fig. 4; is a detailperspective view of the scoop orbodycatching member.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in allfigures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings,l designates a street-car body mounted uponthe usual truck 2, to which is attached the ordinary pilotboard 3. Incarrying out the present invention paralleland forwardly-extendingbrackets 4 are provided, consisting of bars of suffi cient strengthattached rigidly at their rear ends to the pilot-board 3 and furtherconnected therewith by means of oblique braces 5. In order to stiffenthe brackets or bars 4, the latter are connected by cross-braces 6, asshown in Fig. 2.

The car-fender frame consists of an inner portion comprising parallelside bars 7, connected by cross-braces 8 and pivotally connected, as bybolts 9, to the outer ends of the brackets 4C, the inner ends of theside bars 7 being connected by means of a counterbalance-weight 10,which serves to hold the rear end of the fender-frame normally depressedand resting upon the cross-braces 6 of the brackets.

The outer portion of the fender-frame comprises parallel bars 11, whichare connected by hinges 12 to the bars 7, thereby enabling the outerportion of the fender-frame to be folded upward in front of thedashboard 13 and car-platform 14:. The bars 11 and 7 are furtherconnected by means of sliding lockbolts 15, which prevent the projectingportion of the fender from folding upward accidentally. The side bars 11are also connected by cross-braces 16.

Pivotally mounted on the outer ends of the a heavy cross-bar 20, whichforms a counterbalance-weight for the scoop and holds it with theforward end normally depressed and its rear end elevated, as shown inFig. 1. The

cross-bar 20 is located slightly back of the; front ends of the sidebars 18, and the extremities of said side bars are connected by means ofa cushion 21 in the form of a rubber or leather strip, which is adaptedto yield when it comes in contact witha person and prevent the fenderfrom maiming or injuring the person picked up thereby. The sidebars 18are bent intermediate their ends, as shown at 22, in the form of elbows,where they are provided with. openings 23 to receive a shaft or axle 24,which passes therethrough and through the projecting ends of the bars11, thus forming the pivotal connection between the scoop and thefender-frame. Supportingwheels 25 are mounted upon the projecting endsof the shaft 24 for supporting the fenderframe upon the ground and theperson or object carried by the fender when the forward end of thefender-frame is depressed. One or more. cushioning-springs 26 aremounted upon brackets on the car and in the path of the scoop-frame andserve to cushion the downward movement of the rear portion of the scoopwhen it picks up a person or object.

The counterbalance-weight 20 serves to hold the scoop or body-catchingmember in the position shown in Fig. 1, readyto receive 1 the object,While the counterbalanceweight 10, which is considerably heavier thanthe weight 20, holds the fender-frame and the scoop carriedv thereby inthe position shown in Fig. 1, the fender as a whole being thus;

supported clear of the road-bed, but sufficiently close thereto toprevent the body of a person passing beneath the fender and being caughtby the wheels or projecting portions of the truck. It will be seen fromthe foregoing description that the car-fender as awhole is supportedsolely by the truck, independently of the car body and springs, and istherefore not influenced by the oscillation of the car-body. Thisarrangement permits the car-fender to be carried along at a uni-' tancelaterally in rounding curves.

I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction andarrangement set forth, but reserve the right to change, modify,

or vary the construction within thescope of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a car-truck, of a counterbalanced fender-framefulcrumed on the truck and supported solely by the truck independentlyof the car-body, and a bodycatching scoop hinged to the fender-frame andarranged in front of the car-body, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car-truck, of a car fender comprising acounterbalanced frame pivotally supported intermediate its ends solelyby-the truck independently of the car-body, and arscoop or-body-catchingmember arranged infront ofthe car-body and supported pivotallyintermediate its ends by said fender-frame, substantially as described.

3. The combination with acar-truck, of a car-fender comprising acounterbalanced fender-frame pivotally supported intermediate its endssolely by the truck independently of the car-body, and a tilting andcounterbalanced scoop or body-catching member located infront of thecar-body and pivotally supported intermediate'its ends by thefenderframe, substantially as described.

4:. The combination with a car-truck, of a car-fender comprising atilting and counterbalanced fender-frame pivotally supportedintermediate its ends solelyby the truck independently of the car-body,a tilting and counterbalanced scoop or body-catching member locate-i infront of the car-bodyand pivotally supported intermediate its ends bythe fender-frame and means for cushioning the rearward movement of thescoop, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a car-truck, of a car-fender comprising atilting and counterbalanced fender-frame supported solely by the truckindependently of the car-body, and a tilting and counterbalanced scoopor bodycatching member having anormally horizontal portion and anupwardly and rearwardly sloping portion, said scoop being pivotallymounted adjacent at the junction of the horizontal and sloping portionsupon the fenderframe, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a car-truck, of a car-fender comprising atilting fender-frame supported solely by the car-truck independ- 'entlyof the car-body, a tilting scoop pivotally mounted on the forward end ofthe fenderframe in front of the car-body, and supporting-wheels mountedon the forward end of the fender-frame for contact with the ground whenthe fender-frame is tripped, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL HOWELL EVANS. Witnesses:

WM. L. FORD, V. D. STOOKBRIDGE.

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